Published: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 5:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 9:24 p.m.

PALM COAST — Flagler Palm Coast placed eight wrestlers, including three runners-up, for a strong third-place team finish at the St. Cloud Bulldog Brawls.

Seniors Zach Ford (138 pounds) and Logan Smith (182) took second-place medals in the bracketed tournament that featured 32 teams. Sophomore Adren Mitchell (106) was also on the podium for second place, with Justin Boyle, Collin Larocco, Jake Kosachiner, Alfred Shavers and Jake Trivett also placing in their respective weight classes.

The FPC Bulldogs turned in a solid weekend as a team, scoring 166.5 team points, and were as close as second place after the first day of the two-day tournament. Defending Class 2A state champion Spring Hill Springstead (228.5 team points) won the tournament and Crawfordville Wakulla (219 points) also finished ahead of the Bulldogs.

For FPC coach Tom Bartolotta, it was good to get Logan Smith back in the lineup. Hurt during the football season, Smith was FPC's only state qualifier this past February at the state tournament in Lakeland and he's the most experienced competitor among FPC's group of available upper weights. It was his first match back and he was in good shape for it, Bartolotta said.

Smith also came closest to winning an individual championship, losing a 3-2 decision in the finals at 182 to Drew Delong of Wakulla. He gained the finals with a victory in the semi-finals over Hans Boelsterli of West Orange and finished with a 3-1 record for his weekend of work.

Ford earned a spot in the finals by subduing Charlotte's Trey Hoff 5-3 in the 138-pound semi-final bout. Paired with Jordan Rivera of Springstead in the championship finals, Ford lost 7-1 to Rivera, a wrestler who was third in the state in 2012 in the 126-pound division.

Mitchell, whose father, Adren Mitchell, was a state champion for FPC in the early 1990s, lost by fall at 3:03 in the finals to Springstead's Matt Langraff. Landgraff placed sixth last February for the Class 2A state champions. Mitchell, 4-1 overall in the tournament, earned his spot in the finals with a semi-finals win over Delfino Garcia of Okeechobee.

Boyle (160) and Larocco (138) both placed fourth. Boyle reached the semi-finals paired against and losing to Springstead's Billy Swift, who eventually placed second. He fought back with a win in wrestle-backs before losing the third-place match final to Dylan Jones of Naples Palmetto Ridge.

Larocco reached the semi-final bout after winning a pair of matches in the first two rounds on day one. In the semis, Larocco was stopped by Kevon White of Wakulla, who went on to win the tournament championship. The FPC grappler fought back with a win in the wrestle-backs, but lost the third-fourth consolation match to Heritage's Issac Garcia.

Kosachiner (120), FPC's only undefeated wrestler coming into the St. Cloud tournament, went 4-2 and defeated Tyler Best of West Orange for fifth overall. The sophomore lost his first two matches of the season, including a semi-finals loss to Ty Lucas of Tampa Bay Christian, who ended up winning the 120 championship.

Shavers, FPC's 113-pound entry, took a long route to eventually place fifth. He split his two first-day matches, which put him in the wrestle-backs where he beat a pair of state qualifiers. In the second of those two matches, Shavers got fifth with a victory over Chris Mosher of Citrus.

At 145 pounds, the FPC team got a sixth-place finish from Jake Trivett, who lost to Ryan Hagen of Okeechobee.

The Bulldogs had a strong tournament overall. In addition to the eight place-winners, the Bulldogs almost got another placer in 126-pound Darrion Doffney, who lost in overtime in his bid to beat a returning state qualifier, Bartolotta said. Ladirus Smith (152), Jonathan Muniz (195) and Rykell Alexander (220) all won at least one match the first night to advanced to the second day wrestle-backs.

Before the semi-finals, FPC was second in the team points derby and had a 6.5-point edge over Springstead before the wrestling started on the second day. But Springstead had a lot of wrestlers place with eight and led everybody with five champions of the 14 weight divisions.

Matanzas places one

The Matanzas Pirates struggled last weekend in the Bill Scott Memorial Holiday Classic at Longwood Lyman. Heavyweight Steven Mosley took fifth place for the only top-eight finish for a Matanzas wrestler, scoring a 9-5 decision over DeQuan Harvin of Wekiva. Matanzas scored 30 team points and was 26th overall.

<p>PALM COAST &mdash; Flagler Palm Coast placed eight wrestlers, including three runners-up, for a strong third-place team finish at the St. Cloud Bulldog Brawls. </p><p>Seniors Zach Ford (138 pounds) and Logan Smith (182) took second-place medals in the bracketed tournament that featured 32 teams. Sophomore Adren Mitchell (106) was also on the podium for second place, with Justin Boyle, Collin Larocco, Jake Kosachiner, Alfred Shavers and Jake Trivett also placing in their respective weight classes. </p><p>The FPC Bulldogs turned in a solid weekend as a team, scoring 166.5 team points, and were as close as second place after the first day of the two-day tournament. Defending Class 2A state champion Spring Hill Springstead (228.5 team points) won the tournament and Crawfordville Wakulla (219 points) also finished ahead of the Bulldogs. </p><p>For FPC coach Tom Bartolotta, it was good to get Logan Smith back in the lineup. Hurt during the football season, Smith was FPC's only state qualifier this past February at the state tournament in Lakeland and he's the most experienced competitor among FPC's group of available upper weights. It was his first match back and he was in good shape for it, Bartolotta said. </p><p>Smith also came closest to winning an individual championship, losing a 3-2 decision in the finals at 182 to Drew Delong of Wakulla. He gained the finals with a victory in the semi-finals over Hans Boelsterli of West Orange and finished with a 3-1 record for his weekend of work. </p><p>Ford earned a spot in the finals by subduing Charlotte's Trey Hoff 5-3 in the 138-pound semi-final bout. Paired with Jordan Rivera of Springstead in the championship finals, Ford lost 7-1 to Rivera, a wrestler who was third in the state in 2012 in the 126-pound division. </p><p>Mitchell, whose father, Adren Mitchell, was a state champion for FPC in the early 1990s, lost by fall at 3:03 in the finals to Springstead's Matt Langraff. Landgraff placed sixth last February for the Class 2A state champions. Mitchell, 4-1 overall in the tournament, earned his spot in the finals with a semi-finals win over Delfino Garcia of Okeechobee. </p><p>Boyle (160) and Larocco (138) both placed fourth. Boyle reached the semi-finals paired against and losing to Springstead's Billy Swift, who eventually placed second. He fought back with a win in wrestle-backs before losing the third-place match final to Dylan Jones of Naples Palmetto Ridge. </p><p>Larocco reached the semi-final bout after winning a pair of matches in the first two rounds on day one. In the semis, Larocco was stopped by Kevon White of Wakulla, who went on to win the tournament championship. The FPC grappler fought back with a win in the wrestle-backs, but lost the third-fourth consolation match to Heritage's Issac Garcia. </p><p>Kosachiner (120), FPC's only undefeated wrestler coming into the St. Cloud tournament, went 4-2 and defeated Tyler Best of West Orange for fifth overall. The sophomore lost his first two matches of the season, including a semi-finals loss to Ty Lucas of Tampa Bay Christian, who ended up winning the 120 championship. </p><p>Shavers, FPC's 113-pound entry, took a long route to eventually place fifth. He split his two first-day matches, which put him in the wrestle-backs where he beat a pair of state qualifiers. In the second of those two matches, Shavers got fifth with a victory over Chris Mosher of Citrus. </p><p>At 145 pounds, the FPC team got a sixth-place finish from Jake Trivett, who lost to Ryan Hagen of Okeechobee. </p><p>The Bulldogs had a strong tournament overall. In addition to the eight place-winners, the Bulldogs almost got another placer in 126-pound Darrion Doffney, who lost in overtime in his bid to beat a returning state qualifier, Bartolotta said. Ladirus Smith (152), Jonathan Muniz (195) and Rykell Alexander (220) all won at least one match the first night to advanced to the second day wrestle-backs. </p><p>Before the semi-finals, FPC was second in the team points derby and had a 6.5-point edge over Springstead before the wrestling started on the second day. But Springstead had a lot of wrestlers place with eight and led everybody with five champions of the 14 weight divisions.</p><p></p><p>Matanzas places one </p><p> </p><p>The Matanzas Pirates struggled last weekend in the Bill Scott Memorial Holiday Classic at Longwood Lyman. Heavyweight Steven Mosley took fifth place for the only top-eight finish for a Matanzas wrestler, scoring a 9-5 decision over DeQuan Harvin of Wekiva. Matanzas scored 30 team points and was 26th overall.</p>